Rich Villar is the author of the poetry collection Comprehending Forever (Willow Books, 2014). He directs Acentos, an organization fostering audiences and community around Latino/a literature, and he has been quoted on Latino literature and culture by The New York Times and the Daily News.

6 comments:

. . . most of the comments responding to Brown on her site are commiserating with her, and saluting her bravery in exposing this nonsense——

but none are slamming his honor the Hoagland who bops in to these contests and does his ten minute stint as “judge” and then scoots off with another tick on his resume, another notch on his reputation, who doesn’t give a damn if it’s a scam, he doesn’t care if the process is fair and the press treats its poets properly, all he cares about is cashing that fee and that boost to his ego . . .Hoagland is a Po-Biz whore who will obviously sell his ass out as a “judge” at every opportunity legitimate or ill- . . .

if you’re going to condemn the presses, you must also censure the “judges” of these contests: they’re part of the scam . . . they don’t give a damn about what happens after they take their money and run . . . Hoagland is as much to blame here as Cider is.

At this point, I'm sure someone has forwarded this stuff to Tony Hoagland, as well as to this year's judge, Lucille Clifton. I hope so, anyway.

In all fairness to Hoagland (who, truth be told, is not one of my favorite poets either), there may not have been any way for him to know about Cider's alleged activities previous to this fiasco. If there was a gag order issued on the previous year's winner, that is. Though I do wonder what went through his mind when Cider called him up to tell him the runner-up had been given the prize.

That said, I do think judges have a responsibility to research the organizations they're putting their names to. I also think that too many judges go into these contests with agendas, people they want to push, aesthetics they wish to champion. Another side to this has nothing to do with the judge: what about the underlings who "vet" the manuscripts for a given judge? Sometimes the judge thinks he's been given the best, but really hasn't...or isn't interested in finding out. So much drama, largely unnecessary. For this, struggling presses should stick to open reading periods, reading fees...or better yet, actually having a ethical business plan that makes money.

Bottom line: contests are fundraisers, by and large. Largely random, mostly vain. They're fun for the people that run them, but torture for everyone else. Frankly, I think the only book awards these days worth any salt are the ones put out to recognize poets who might have historically gotten the shaft from the po-biz. And even those can be problematic: this year, Clarence Major opted NOT to award the 2008 Cave Canem book prize, which to me is mind-boggling.

I've seen the scans. I actually followed your blog with some aplomb before it disappeared! Any chance those old posts might come back, or have they been assigned to history's dustbin?

I can't disagree: the book prizes definitely add to the judge's CV, not to mention their pocketbooks. I've seen multiple cases where judges are literally making an effort to make ends meet, so I can't completely dismiss them, but I definitely see your point.

It's a struggle to get around the whole "biz" part, and get to the "po" of it all. Stories like this don't make it easier, but I'm sure trying.

Actually, I did get the publisher's side of events. For reasons that are quite understandable from the press' point of view, there were some questions they chose to leave unanswered. I also talked to Stacey Brown about it. Based on the assessment I had, from both POV's, I believe Stacey is rightfully upset. She's no nut.

In sum, I don't form opinions based on one side of the story. (Maybe you're a little quick to judge? Food for thought.) Either way, I'm not afraid to express a definitive opinion.

As for Hoagland, I can't speak to Bill's jealousies, professional or otherwise. Perhaps you could ask him that yourself over on Bill's blog. I suspect it's the real Knott.

For me, when I say that Hoagland is not one of my favorite poets, it's because his content often offends me, despite his attempts at thought-provoking. That, and craft-wise, I think he gets a little lazy at times. Again, strictly an opinion.

Bio

Rich Villar is the author of the poetry collection Comprehending Forever (Willow Books, 2014). He directs Acentos, an organization fostering audiences and community around Latino/a literature, and he has been quoted on Latino literature and culture by The New York Times and the Daily News.